An off-line map-matching algorithm for incomplete map databases

Abstract

The task of map-matching consists of finding a correspondence between a geographical point or sequence of points (e.g. obtained from GPS) and a given map. Due to many reasons, namely the noisy input data and incomplete or inaccurate maps, such a task is not trivial and can affect the validity of applications that depend on it. This includes any Transport Research projects that rely on post-hoc analysis of traces (e.g. via Floating Car Data). In this article, we describe an off-line map-matching algorithm that allows us to handle incomplete map databases. We test and compare this with other approaches and ultimately provide guidelines for use within other applications. This project is provided as open source.